2nd interview

dellas1979

By some miracle I got a second interview - havent been at an intervew in about 1.5 years.

2 questions I always have trouble with:

1. What can you do for us that someone else can't?
2. What are your strengths/weaknesses?

I had a look at the sticky above - its very americanised -

What would you say?

Eoin

I hate that weaknesses question. I generally give a specific skill that I don't have, rather than a character trait. I've not been asked the first question, and without knowing your background and the role you're going for, it's very hard to give any sort of sample answer.

crazyderk

Always give 3 honest strenghts, I always go with Passionate about my work, career and willingness to learn, and 1 weakness but then give a couple of reasons how you overcome it, for instance I say oh I hate admin but because im aware of it and i know it HAS to be done, I try to do it first thing in the morning and get it out of the way because then it doesnt mount up and it doesnt seem as daunting so it ends up being ok

for the first question - reiterate your strenghts or else think of a 4th strenght
that quetion can also be brought up as what can you bring to the company so keep an eye out for that too

and also think about it, theyre interested in you thats why they asked you back, its generally someone higher up that needs to be impressed so reiterate some of the things that may have been asked in the first interview, it got you that far! and best of luck buddy you'll do great!!!!

tatli_lokma

I always give my strength as my weakness also. For e.g I would say that a strength is that I am hardworking and motivated and I have a desire to always do my very best and exceed expectations. However this can also be my weakness as it means I have high standards and I can be quite hard on myself. This is something I have had to learn to balance and I feel I now have a good balance of the two.

something like that - take the same qualites and spin them so even your weakness can be used as a strength.

tinnuvial

I agree with Crazyderk, try and be honest about your weakness (1 is enough), but say how you overcame it and show you are aware of it. No interviewer buys the 'oh I'm a workaholic' as a weakness, they'll just think you are hiding some really bad weakness. Something like 'I'm not naturally comfortable with public speaking but I took a course/joined toastmasters/practiced on all my friends until I learned how' shows you are aware of your weakness and combating it. Adds to your selling points.

Eoin

Cincikchick wrote: »

I always give my strength as my weakness also. For e.g I would say that a strength is that I am hardworking and motivated and I have a desire to always do my very best and exceed expectations. However this can also be my weakness as it means I have high standards and I can be quite hard on myself. This is something I have had to learn to balance and I feel I now have a good balance of the two.

something like that - take the same qualites and spin them so even your weakness can be used as a strength.

I know it's a very clichéd question in the first place, but I'd try and come up with something a bit more original than saying "I'm too awesome"!

tatli_lokma

eoin wrote: »

I know it's a very clichéd question in the first place, but I'd try and come up with something a bit more original than saying "I'm too awesome"!

the whole point of an interview is to show how awesome you are and if you don't have faith in your own 'awesomeness' then you won't get a job! Yes its a clichéd question, but in many cases the interviewer almost expects a clichéd answer, but with your own spin on it. You would be surprised at the amount of people who don't know what they are 'expected' to say to these questions.

Some companies actually work on a scoring system, where certain 'expected' answers are scored higher or lower than others. If you mention x,y,z as your weakness you get a 2 for the answer, a,b,c gets 5 and so on. If you were interviewing with a company like that, then safest thing is to tell them what they want to hear, but seem genuine and honest when doing so. some times 'original' can backfire.

star.chaser

dellas1979 wrote: »

By some miracle I got a second interview - havent been at an intervew in about 1.5 years.

2 questions I always have trouble with:

1. What can you do for us that someone else can't?
2. What are your strengths/weaknesses?

I had a look at the sticky above - its very americanised -

What would you say?

Question 1 is the same as whats you strengths (that set you apart). You should have three examples of any strength you mention in action. Usually giving one example is enough but depending on how tough the interviewer is you may be asked for up to three.

When asked about your weakness, you can highlight a weakness you had that you overcame or tell them your weakness is something like you can't leave a task unfinished even if it means staying late after work or you feel obliged to help out your co workers when you see they are extremely busy even if you are busy yourself

Eoin

Cincikchick wrote: »

the whole point of an interview is to show how awesome you are and if you don't have faith in your own 'awesomeness' then you won't get a job! Yes its a clichéd question, but in many cases the interviewer almost expects a clichéd answer, but with your own spin on it. You would be surprised at the amount of people who don't know what they are 'expected' to say to these questions.

I know you're obviously trying to sell yourself, but I just think that the whole "I work too hard / I'm a perfectionist" is a bit trite. As I said, if I am asked that question, I will either say something that I have overcome in the past, or more of a specific skill-set that I don't have rather than a character trait - and impress upon them that it's something I would be keen to skill up on.

My last interview (only 4 weeks ago), the HR person asked something like "tell me about an area where you've had problems, and have done something to counter that". That's a far better question to ask I think.

tatli_lokma

eoin wrote: »

I know you're obviously trying to sell yourself, but I just think that the whole "I work too hard / I'm a perfectionist" is a bit trite. As I said, if I am asked that question, I will either say something that I have overcome in the past, or more of a specific skill-set that I don't have rather than a character trait - and impress upon them that it's something I would be keen to skill up on.

My last interview (only 4 weeks ago), the HR person asked something like "tell me about an area where you've had problems, and have done something to counter that". That's a far better question to ask I think.

oh I agree, that is a much better question, but there are interviewers out there who are not really very good, and who don't know what way to take an 'original' answer, and don't know how to ask anything than the tried and tested questions.

My hubby went for an interview a few months back, got asked the strengths and weaknesses question, tried to give a different answer, and the interviewer (a young woman obviously not long in her career from HR) said 'oh, thats a good answer but I don't really know how to score it against my score sheet' ! He didn't get that job. Last job he went for, he stuck to the tried and tested answers, but of course made them more personally relevant and got the job - feed back for the interviews was very positive.

The example I was giving was just an example, you would then of course have to expand on it, show what skill set you have to overcome it, or how you overcame it. A lot of interviewers are looking for a standard answer with a personal slant. Unless of course you are going for a very specific role or a higher management role.

star.chaser

I find the best thing to do if the interview isn't going well is to threaten the interviewer.

dellas1979

Um well......I got the job :eek::eek::eek::D:D:D
Delighed.
I got up at 6am to prepare.
Thanks for all the tips and advice.

Eoin

Congrats. Were you asked either of the questions in the end?

dellas1979

Hi Eoin,

Thanks - no I didnt get asked either question, but I knew what I was going to say - so it took the nerves off me.

They stuck mainly to my CV which I know inside out and asked me more job specific questions.

Eoin

Very good, best of luck in the new job

dellas1979

Cheers! Still cant quite believe it - things/jobs like this normally happen to other people...7/8 years trying...